Baker, Banks lead upswing of rugby talent in Volusia/Flagler

Former local prep football standouts Perry Baker and Chris Banks say they have both given up opportunities to continue playing football to pursue rugby.

BRIAN LINDERSTAFF WRITER

DAYTONA BEACH-- Two years ago, the small talk between Chris Banks and Perry Baker would have likely been about football.

But when the two met for a mid-July photo shoot, the chatter was about a different sport – rugby.

To hear them tell it, with the addition of Rugby 7s to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, such might not be all that uncommon soon.

“Everybody loves rugby,” Banks said. “They just don't know it yet.

“I feel that we are at a pivotal time in rugby's history right now, especially in the United States,” he added. “The next decade or so, I think it is really going to take off.”

The sport already appears to have taken off in the Volusia/Flagler area, where the local rugby 7s team – the Daytona Beach Coconuts – finished ninth nationally a year ago and advanced to the USA Rugby South 7s Championships in Atlanta earlier this month.

And perhaps no two players represent the rising popularity of the sport locally better than Banks, a chiseled 5-foot-11, 200 pounds, and Baker, an equally impressive physical specimen at 6-foot-1, 170 pounds.

Both were standout local prep football players – Banks at Seabreeze and Baker at Spruce Creek – who walked away from the sport in favor of rugby.

Banks said he had an opportunity to join the football team at Dartmouth, but opted to join the school's rugby team. And Baker, the brother of former Florida Gator Dallas Baker, spent parts of the last two seasons with the Arena Football League's Pittsburgh Power. He logged 27 receptions for 308 yards and two touchdowns this season before he said he opted to chase an opportunity to play rugby in the Olympics.

“To me, Arena is hard to get out of,” Baker said. “And I just thought about it and I said, ‘This might be my chance.' ”

Baker said he was motivated after spending part of his summer in California training at USA Rugby's Olympic facility.

“My aim is to make the Olympics,” he said. “I feel like I can make the team and play. You ask any kid what they want to do and they say they want to play football, baseball or basketball. You never hear them say, ‘I want to be in the Olympics and play rugby.' I want to help change that.”

Baker said he went from earning a paycheck playing Arena Football to using the money he saved from his playing days to fund his current stay at an Olympic Training Academy hosted by Tiger Rugby in Columbus, Ohio. He said it costs him $1,200 a month to stay and train with the program.

Banks' direction is a bit different.

According to Coconuts' coach Brian Richardson, who recruited Banks into the sport, he is perhaps the most decorated local rugby player. Banks spent the summer competing with the USA U-20 rugby team in France.

Richardson lauded him for his tenacity and power running ability. But the coach said it is Baker, who he also recruited into the sport that has the most Olympic potential because of his speed and explosiveness.

Banks agreed with that assessment, noting that he excels at rugby 15s while Baker excels at the faster-paced rugby 7s – the game that will be played in the Olympics. Banks said he does not have the type of speed needed to play rugby 7s at that level, but there figures to be more opportunities for him to play internationally.

First though, he has to rehab the knee that he shredded in a game against Scotland – the second time he said he has suffered a torn knee ligament since he began playing. And, even then, the 19-year-old said he would have to decide whether or not he will retire early or continue playing and risk further damaging the knee.

“That is a decision that will come in a year or so (after rehab),” he said.

But Banks and Baker both credit Richardson with introducing them to the game that they have fallen in love with. And, they said, he has been a catalyst in helping the sport take off in the area.

“I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that you have Richardson and a good, strong core of guys who love rugby,” Banks said. “And, in Daytona, you look at high school football and you see that we breed athletes. We have had how many D1 football players and athletes come out of Seabreeze, Mainland, (Spruce) Creek? Then there are kids that slip through the cracks and don't get picked up by colleges. These guys that love rugby pick them up, and they learn that they love the sport. It fosters itself.”

Which is why they believe the area will continue to produce high-level rugby players.

“You can't teach talent,” Baker said. “There are some very talented guys around this area. And Brian is starting these guys at a young age. And Brian has that mentality where he can help you and pull you to that next level in rugby.

“It is just like sandlot football. You run, you try to score, and you try to tackle the guy with the ball. Kids find out it is fun and they love it.”

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